Tire Suggestions for 2020 Civic Si 2-Door Coupe

VarmintCong

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I had the Pilot Sport all seasons on my 2017 hatch, they were pretty useless in the snow, almost as bad as the Eagles on the 2020 Si.

They might be ok in Utah though, I was in Massachusetts.
 
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wallacengineering

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I had the Pilot Sport all seasons on my 2017 hatch, they were pretty useless in the snow, almost as bad as the Eagles on the 2020 Si.

They might be ok in Utah though, I was in Massachusetts.
Thats very strange. The Michelin Pilot Sport Gen 4s are quite literally the #1 UHP A/S tire in snow traction, even to this day with newer tires coming out.

But yes if you were expecting an All-Season tire to grip like a dedicated winter tire in the snow, well that simply not physically possible. Michelin has created a great blend between All-Season and Dedicated Winter tire with the Cross-Climate Gen 2, but even those unique tires STILL cannot compete with dedicated winter tires on snow.

Dedicated Winter Tires are extremely soft compounds with extremely aggressive and knobbly tread. They are way too soft and nowhere near smooth enough for hot, dry summer use, you will ruin them if you attempt to use them in the summer.

Thats why no matter how good the All-Season, its simply impossible to match the performance. All-Seasons have to be a fairly firm rubber compound in order to have summer handling and long tread life. However, it is far from the most firm compound - more like an upper-medium.
Then to get adequate snow traction despite the medium-firm compound, millions of dollars of R&D goes into choosing a compound that is barely soft enough plus aggressive style tread patters but with a smooth surface finish and deep sipes instead are what help make up the gap between performance summer tires and performance winter tires.

Massachusetts definitely has way harsher winters than Salt Lake for sure, but I have been okay on A/S even up in the mountains at Park City, so long as you use proper driving techniques. Im almost certain you could get through the winter in Massachusetts just fine on either the Michelin Pilot Sport All Season Gen 4 or the Continental Extreme Contact DWS06+.

Please note in the video below, this test was performed BEFORE the new generation DWS06+ came to market with its revisions that basically eliminated the gap in performance. This comparison features the older generation DWS06 (Non-Plus) instead.

UHP All-Season Tire Comparison on the Snow

 

VarmintCong

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Thats very strange. The Michelin Pilot Sport Gen 4s are quite literally the #1 UHP A/S tire in snow traction, even to this day with newer tires coming out.

But yes if you were expecting an All-Season tire to grip like a dedicated winter tire in the snow, well that simply not physically possible. Michelin has created a great blend between All-Season and Dedicated Winter tire with the Cross-Climate Gen 2, but even those unique tires STILL cannot compete with dedicated winter tires on snow.

Dedicated Winter Tires are extremely soft compounds with extremely aggressive and knobbly tread. They are way too soft and nowhere near smooth enough for hot, dry summer use, you will ruin them if you attempt to use them in the summer.

Thats why no matter how good the All-Season, its simply impossible to match the performance. All-Seasons have to be a fairly firm rubber compound in order to have summer handling and long tread life. However, it is far from the most firm compound - more like an upper-medium.
Then to get adequate snow traction despite the medium-firm compound, millions of dollars of R&D goes into choosing a compound that is barely soft enough plus aggressive style tread patters but with a smooth surface finish and deep sipes instead are what help make up the gap between performance summer tires and performance winter tires.

Massachusetts definitely has way harsher winters than Salt Lake for sure, but I have been okay on A/S even up in the mountains at Park City, so long as you use proper driving techniques. Im almost certain you could get through the winter in Massachusetts just fine on either the Michelin Pilot Sport All Season Gen 4 or the Continental Extreme Contact DWS06+.

Please note in the video below, this test was performed BEFORE the new generation DWS06+ came to market with its revisions that basically eliminated the gap in performance. This comparison features the older generation DWS06 (Non-Plus) instead.

UHP All-Season Tire Comparison on the Snow

There's a wide variety of snow conditions, some are pretty easier for tires like the AS3+ I had. Like when it's really cold the snow gets hard and brittle and is easy to drive on. Fresh snow is also pretty easy. The AS3+ struggled on the cold slushy type conditions we get a lot in mass, where it's below zero but the ton of salt they put down turns the snow a bit slushy. For conditions like that you really need AWD or real snow tires.

For FWD or RWD cars I always get a separate set of wheels with real snow tires on them. All seasons are fine for AWD cars in Mass.
 
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wallacengineering

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There's a wide variety of snow conditions, some are pretty easier for tires like the AS3+ I had. Like when it's really cold the snow gets hard and brittle and is easy to drive on. Fresh snow is also pretty easy. The AS3+ struggled on the cold slushy type conditions we get a lot in mass, where it's below zero but the ton of salt they put down turns the snow a bit slushy. For conditions like that you really need AWD or real snow tires.

For FWD or RWD cars I always get a separate set of wheels with real snow tires on them. All seasons are fine for AWD cars in Mass.
This is very true. We actually get a lot of that terrible slush here in Salt Lake specifically because of how mild the winters are. When the snow falls overnight, it tends to melt a fair bit as the next day warms back up, however if it doesn't all melt away like it does on the warmer days of the winter season, then you have slush all over the roads that freezes again overnight, and the entire city becomes slick as all hell.

So because the winters are so mild, and it can get back above freezing temps during mid-day the snow melts on most days and so that slush occurs quite often.
 


hockeyman316

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Thats very strange. The Michelin Pilot Sport Gen 4s are quite literally the #1 UHP A/S tire in snow traction, even to this day with newer tires coming out.

But yes if you were expecting an All-Season tire to grip like a dedicated winter tire in the snow, well that simply not physically possible. Michelin has created a great blend between All-Season and Dedicated Winter tire with the Cross-Climate Gen 2, but even those unique tires STILL cannot compete with dedicated winter tires on snow.

Dedicated Winter Tires are extremely soft compounds with extremely aggressive and knobbly tread. They are way too soft and nowhere near smooth enough for hot, dry summer use, you will ruin them if you attempt to use them in the summer.

Thats why no matter how good the All-Season, its simply impossible to match the performance. All-Seasons have to be a fairly firm rubber compound in order to have summer handling and long tread life. However, it is far from the most firm compound - more like an upper-medium.
Then to get adequate snow traction despite the medium-firm compound, millions of dollars of R&D goes into choosing a compound that is barely soft enough plus aggressive style tread patters but with a smooth surface finish and deep sipes instead are what help make up the gap between performance summer tires and performance winter tires.

Massachusetts definitely has way harsher winters than Salt Lake for sure, but I have been okay on A/S even up in the mountains at Park City, so long as you use proper driving techniques. Im almost certain you could get through the winter in Massachusetts just fine on either the Michelin Pilot Sport All Season Gen 4 or the Continental Extreme Contact DWS06+.

Please note in the video below, this test was performed BEFORE the new generation DWS06+ came to market with its revisions that basically eliminated the gap in performance. This comparison features the older generation DWS06 (Non-Plus) instead.

UHP All-Season Tire Comparison on the Snow

Looks like he made an updated video with the DWS06 +

 
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wallacengineering

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Car is lightweight. That helps.
True, and the Si is even lighter, especially mine (2-Door Coupe Style shaves off some pounds) I mean my car is barely 2900 lbs even with a full tank of gas and the spare tire in it.

Thats less weight than my basic 2017 1.4T 150BHP Base Model Jetta weighed with no options (just basic power windows and mirrors and it had a decent stereo, thats it, and it weighs 3050 lbs.)

Thats why Im so excited to begin modifying my Si this year. With a simple stage 1 tune and basic supporting mods such as a cold air intake and upgraded Turbo Inlet Pipe, you can hit 21 PSI of boost and reach close to 250 BHP on stock internals and turbo.

With the 2-Door Si weighing a fair bit less than the Type-R (3150 lbs) I imagine 250BHP will be a lot of fun 😊.
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